Platelets carry the growth factors the body uses to repair tissue. A small blood draw is spun in a centrifuge to separate and concentrate them, and that concentrate is placed where repair is wanted. The material is autologous, meaning it came from you, so there is nothing to be allergic to and nothing foreign left behind.
Microneedling makes controlled channels in the skin to trigger remodeling. Combining the two puts concentrated growth factors into skin that has just been prompted to repair itself, which is the reason the combination is studied separately from either treatment on its own.
What it treats
Why anti-inflammatories undo it
PRP works by starting a controlled inflammatory response. Anti-inflammatories suppress exactly that response. Ibuprofen, naproxen, fish oil, vitamin E and flaxseed oil stop three days before treatment and stay stopped for three days afterwards. This is the most important instruction on this page, because it changes how well the treatment works rather than how comfortable it is. Prescribed blood thinners are a different matter and are never stopped without speaking to the physician who prescribed them.
What the trials show
A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis in Archives of Dermatological Research pooled 17 studies across 1,111 participants with atrophic acne scarring, comparing microneedling with PRP against microneedling alone. The combination performed better on the standard scar severity score, with a mean difference of 2.91 points in its favor and moderate variation between studies.
The more useful finding is a statistical one. For patients achieving more than 75 percent improvement on photographs, the analysis reached what is called the required information size, meaning enough patients have now been studied for the result to be treated as settled rather than provisional. Most aesthetic treatments have never cleared that bar. Adverse effects were no different from microneedling on its own.
The honest limitation is that most of the underlying studies were single-center and small, and none separated results by the type of scar. Rolling, boxcar and ice-pick scars behave differently, so which of your scars is likely to respond is a question for examination rather than for the literature.
What it does not do
Ice-pick scars, the narrow deep ones, respond poorly to anything that works by resurfacing, and this combination is no exception. Deep tethered scarring often needs to be released before any surface treatment has something to work with. Active acne is treated before scar work begins, because treating scars while new ones are forming is a poor use of both your time and money.
How the result arrives
Redness settles within a day or two and the skin looks better within a week, but that early change is swelling rather than remodeling. The real change follows collagen. Most people see it at four to six weeks, and scar work in particular is judged at three to six months after a completed series rather than between sessions.
What a session is like
- Blood draw
- A small draw from the arm, like a routine blood test.
- Processing
- 10 to 15 minutes in the centrifuge while numbing cream works.
- Sensation
- Vibration and pressure. Numbing is applied first.
- Session length
- 60 to 75 minutes start to finish.
- Immediately after
- Redness like moderate sunburn for 24 to 48 hours.
- Onset
- Texture change at 4 to 6 weeks.
- Full result
- 3 to 6 months after a full series.
- Cadence
- 3 to 6 sessions, 4 to 6 weeks apart, depending on scarring.
Before, during and after
This is the protocol we follow. Open any of these to read it before booking, or again the week of your appointment.
Common questions
Is this better than microneedling on its own?
For atrophic acne scarring, the pooled evidence says yes. Seventeen studies covering 1,111 patients found the combination outperformed microneedling alone on the standard scar score, with no increase in side effects. Whether the difference is worth it for you depends on what you are treating, since the evidence for the combination is strongest in scarring specifically rather than across everything microneedling is used for.
Does it work on all types of acne scars?
No, and the studies do not separate them, which is a real gap in the evidence. In practice rolling and shallow boxcar scars respond best to resurfacing approaches, while narrow ice-pick scars generally do not, and deeply tethered scars often need releasing before any surface treatment can help. Working out which types you have is what the examination is for, and it decides whether this is the right treatment before it is offered.
Why can I not take ibuprofen around PRP?
Because PRP works through a controlled inflammatory response, and anti-inflammatories suppress it. Ibuprofen, naproxen, fish oil, vitamin E and flaxseed oil should stop three days before treatment and stay stopped for three days afterwards. This is the single most important instruction for any PRP treatment, because it changes how well the treatment works rather than just how comfortable it is. Prescribed blood thinners such as apixaban, rivaroxaban, warfarin, clopidogrel or aspirin taken for cardiac reasons are different and should never be stopped without speaking to the prescribing physician.
Is it safe in darker skin?
Microneedling is generally better tolerated in richly pigmented skin than heat-based resurfacing, because it does not rely on delivering heat into the dermis. Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation is still the risk to manage, and it is managed through settings, spacing and what you do afterwards rather than by avoiding the treatment. Sun protection between sessions matters more here than almost anything else.
How long is the redness?
Most people look like they have moderate sunburn for 24 to 48 hours, sometimes with mild swelling on the first evening. It covers with mineral makeup after the first full day. Plan the appointment with a clear day after it rather than assuming you will look normal that night.
Who should not have PRP?
PRP is not performed in anyone with an active cancer or a history of blood cancer, in anyone with a platelet or clotting disorder, or where there is active infection, rash or an open wound in the treatment area. Pregnancy and breastfeeding are also reasons to wait. Because the treatment depends on your own platelets, anything that meaningfully affects them affects the result, which is part of what gets reviewed at consultation.
This page is for general education and is not medical advice. It does not establish a physician-patient relationship, and it cannot account for your individual history, medications or skin. Suitability for treatment is decided at consultation following examination.